Prof Ramesh Rao: A Role Model Speaks

As an extension of the DNS ROLE MODEL List 2008, we asked the Role Models - 'How did De Nobili impact their life?' The second writeup in the series comes from Professor Ramesh Rao (ISC 1974).

And I never met him.

I am easily seduced by an invitation to walk down memory lane. Perhaps one can disentangle the randomness of one's past and find a simpler narrative. Did I see in Mrs Rao's eighth grade class how useful it would be to learn to speak in public? Why did I fail to act on the inspiration I derived from Fr Kirsch's Physics classes? Why am I still sucking on the few seeds of Sanskrit I gathered in Mr Pandey's classes? When will my nightmares about being ill-prepared for the Hindi exam end?

I arrived at De Nobili School after my dad had exhausted all his other options for providing a quality education for his two Madrasi boys. Rajendra School in Sindri was a bit too scrappy and Ramakrishna Mission in Deoghar gave me Typhoid and my brother some other ailment and hey I always followed Kishore around so there I was at De Nobili with him.

The main trick in the beginning was to lay low so you could watch the local action, figure out the various accents and give Br Dietrich no reason to spank you with his hockey stick. Then, after the seniors had graduated, it was your turn. What was special about De Nobili was the room for thinking about a wide set of topics, the opportunities for arguing with people much smarter than you were and most amazingly being able to spin one's own yarn. So this is what I have continued to do in my life. And, so here I am, a kid from Sindri, making a living at a Research University in California, espousing to more than two thousand other professors, the value of working across disciplinary boundaries in pursuit of societal impact, and creating a home for the believers. And as I searched for a way to wrap up, I googled to reread the life of Fr Roberto de Nobili and it sent a shiver down my spine.

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